Knitted pile fabrics



25, 1965 E. c. VAN PATTEN KNITTED FILE FABRICS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 19, 1962 FIG. I.

INVENTOR.

ELLIOT 1. VAN PATTEN BY W1 l/QAMM M 1955 E. c. VAN IQATTEN 3,213, 6

KNITTED FILE FABRICS Filed Dec. 19, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3O 30 f I INVENTOR.

ELLIOT C. VAN PATTEN BY I YARN United States Patent 3,213,646 KNITTED FILE FABRICS Elliot C. Van Patten, RD. 5, Amsterdam, N.Y. Filed Dec. 19, 1962, Ser. No. 245,739 Claims. (Cl. 66191) The present invention relates to knitted pile fabrics of a type suitable for use as floor coverings or the like which will have better pile yarn retaining qualities, will exhibit less streakiness in their face, and will require less pile face yarn per unit in their construction than similar fabrics which have heretofore been known.

In the manufacture of knitted pile fabrics suitable for use as floor coverings or the like, one such fabric being described US. Patent No. 2,476,153 issued on July 12, 1949 to J. R. Little, Jr., et al., it is common to apply an adhesive to the back side of the product after knitting, the adhesive coating serving to enhance the dimensional stability thereof while causing the weft filler threads and chain warps of the fabric to be securely adhered together. In practice, it has been found that such an adhesive coating, when applied as described above, does not, due to the dense weft filler thread and chain warp construction, as seen in FIGURE 5 of said patent, penetrate through the fabric far enough and in such a quantity as to allow the pile face yarns of the fabric to be securely adhered to the weft filler threads and chain warps, said pile face yarns depending for their retention in the fabric on the manner in which they are bound in said fabric by the stitches of their associated chain warps.

The aforementioned construction has been satisfactory when the pile face yarns used in such knitted carpet have been of wool fibers because such fibers, as is well known, have on their surface a multitude of small scales which increase their frictional cooperation with the binding stitches and with each other thereby making them relatively insusceptible to being loosened from the fabric. Further, when a wool fibre is loosened from its normal position in a fabric, it will, with continued wear, usually become separated from the fabric where it can be readily removed therefrom as by the use of a vacuum cleaner or the like, thus leaving a clean surface on the fabric. Where the pile yarns are made of certain synthetic materials as, for example, nylon, quite a different situation exists. Pile yarns of the latter type exhibit a marked degre of resistance to abrasion and, because of their high strength, their reaction is, in certain respects, opposite to that above described for W001. That is, these yarns tend to be relatively easily loosened from their normal position in the fabric and, having been loosened, do not sep arate from the fabric where they can be easily removed by the use of a vacuum cleaner or similar apparatus. Instead, such loosened material tends to remain on the face of the fabric where, with continued wear thereon, it will pill, lending an unslightly appearance to the fabric.

In order to avoid the disadvantages inherent in using synthetic yarns, such as nylon, in the manufacture of knitted pile fabrics, as described above, I have invented a knitted pile fabric wherein the pile face yarn, in addition to appearing on the face of the fabric, also appears on the rear surface thereof where it is easily contacted by an adequate amount of the aforementioned adhesive coating to be securely adhered to the weft filler threads and chain warps and rendered virtually insusceptible to being loosened from its normal position in the carpet. Also, the construction of my improved fabric is such that no two successive pile elements in a warpwise row are formed from the same pile yarn, thus providing a fabric which will tend to be devoid of streaks in the face thereof should one pile end be of a different hue than similarly colored pile ends used in the construction there- 3 ,Zl3E,64 6 Patented Oct. 26, 1965 of. In addition, the fabric of the instant invention is constructed in a manner such that each pile yarn crosses and is bound into the fabric by the stitches of only one row of warp chain stitches, thus using a lesser amount of pile yarn per unit of fabric than other similar fabrics which have heretofore been known. v

The instant invention may be better understood by referring to the accompanying drawings wherein.

FIGURE 1 is an expanded view of one embodiment of the fabric;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view on the line 22 of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view of the rear of the fabric shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is an expanded plan View similar to FIG- URE 1 showing a second embodiment of the invention; and

FIGURE 5 is a View similar to FIGURE-1 showing a third embodiment of the invention.

The fabric in the form illustrated in FIGURE 1 comprises a plurality of warp chains 10, each made up of a series of chain stitches such as 10a, 10b, 10c, and 10d. The warp chains, which may be made of cotton yarns, lie close together and the stitches of the several warp chains are aligned in courses running transversely of the fabric.

The war-p chains are connected and held in proper spaced relation by weft threads 11, 12, 13, 14 which are preferably stiff and may be made of jute or paper. Each weft thread is of regular sinuous form and is made of a succession of loops opening alternately toward opposite sides of the fabric. Each weft thread is laid in the fabric to connect together a plurality of warp chains and, in the construction shown in FIGURE 1, each lateral stretch of a weft thread passes through stitches in three warp chains, said stitches lying in the same course, whereupon each said weft thread then reverse direction and passes through a second three stitches in said three warp chains, the latter stitches lying in a single course, which course is located adjacent said first mentioned course in a direction running longitudinally of the fabric, after which the said weft thread again reverses direction, passes through another three warp chain stitches in like manner, and so on. At each point of reversal of a weft thread, it tightly engages a chain stitch and is tightly engaged thereby. The loops of laterally adjacent weft threads overlap, so that each warp chain is connected in each course to the next adjacent warp chain on either side thereof by two weft threads and three weft threads pass through each chain stitch.

The pile of the fabric is provided by yarns 15 and each pile yarn is associated with one warp chain. In the construction shown, each pile yarn crosses only one warp chain and passes through only one warp chain stitch in the same course. The pile yarn, after passing through each such warp chain stitch, as for example, chain stitch 10a, has a portion raised out of the fabric, forming a pile element 15a. The pile yarn then passes beneath a stretch of weft thread 12, appears on the rear surface of the fabric, as more clearly seen in FIGURES 2 and 3 and subsequently passes through chain stitch 10b. After passing through said chain stitch 10b, a further portion of the pile yarn is raised out of the fabric to form another pile element 15a. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the finished fabric of FIGURE 1 will be tightly held together, not expanded as shown in FIG- URE 1, and the pile yarn 15 will course upwardly, that is, upwardly towards the surface of the fabric, in the area between the point where such pile yarn 15 completes its passage under the weft thread 12 to the point where said pile yarn 15 is engaged by the chain stitch 1012. After passing through stitch 10b the upward coursing of yarn 15 is more pronounced as it forms the pile element a. It wil be observed that pile yarn 15, in the area of the above mentioned pile elments 15a formed therein, will be engaged by and secured between adjacent weft threads, 11 and 12, and 12 and 13, respectively, and succeeding pile elements of pile yarn 15 are secured in a like manner, while successive pile elements formed in each pile yarn are located on alternate sides of side pile yarns associated warp chain. The pile yarn, in addition to being secured between adjacent weft threads as described above, is of course also engaged by and tightly secured by the various chain stitches which it passes through.

In FIGURE 4 I show a different form which my improved fabric may take. This latter form is similar to that of FIGURE 1 except that the weft threads, in this instance, cross a greater number of warp chains. 'In this figure, it will be observed that each weft thread 21, 22, 23 and 24 passes through stitches in four warp chains, said stitches lying in the same course, whereupon each of said weft threads reverses direction and passes through a second four stitches in a course adjacent, longitudinally of the fabric, to said first course. Again, at each point of reversal, each weft thread engages a chain stitch and is tightly engaged thereby.

'Ilhe pile yarns 25 of this latter fabric each pass through the stitches of and cross only one wanp chain but, in each course, after passing through their associated chain stitches, each pile yarn has a portion thereof raised [out of the fabric to form .a pile element 25a, whereupon said pile yarn then, in each course, passes beneath the lateral stretches of two weft threads before passing through a successive ch ain stitch.

In FIGURE 5, I show a still further embodiment of my invention wherein, in each course, each pile yarn 35 passes through successive stitches of :and crosses only one warp chain 30. In each course, however, after passing through one chain stitch such as stitch a, each such pile yarn passes beneath a first weft thread, such as the thread 31, whereupon a portion of the pile yarn is raised out of the fabric to form pile element a. The pile yarn then, in the same course, passes beneath two additional weft threads 32, 33, and through chain stitch 30b after which it again passes beneath a first weft thread 33, forms another pile element 35a and subsequently passes beneath weft threads 32 and 3-1 and through chain stitch 30c.

It will be appreciated that the weft threads of FIG- URE 5 could be made to traverse more than *3 warp chains thereby increasing the number of weft threads passing over a pile yarn, after the pile element is formed, in any given course.

Having thus described my invention, it will be apparent that in all forms thereof I have provided a knitted pile fabric wherein each pile yarn is bound into the stitches of and crosses only one warp chain. Such pile yarns are also, at various points along their length, engaged and held in place by weft threads laid in the fabric. [[n addition, when an adhesive substance is applied to the rear of fabrics constructed in accordance with my invention, such substance will contact the warp chains, weft filler threads, and pile yarns to securely bind them together, such adhesive substance lending its gripping characteristies to those [of the stitches and threads to secure the P y n th fab ic Also, due to the fact that no two succeeding pile ele ments formed in any one pile yarn lie in the same row, the fabric of the present invention will tend to exhibit less streakiness in the face thereof than prior similar knitted fabrics, should any one pile yarn be of a different hue than similarly colored pile yarns used in the fabric and, further, due to the fact that the pile yarns of the present invention cross only one warp chain throughout their length, less pile yarn per unit of fabric will be required in the construction of fabrics according to my invention than would be required in the manufacture of prior similar knitted fabrics.

While certain representative embodiments and details have been shown for the purpose of illustrating the invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

'1. A knitted pile fabric comprising a plurality of parallel chain warps extending longitudinally of said fabric, each of said chain warps consisting of a plurality of chain stitches, said stitches aligned in courses transversely of said fabric, a plurality of weft backing yarns laid into said chain stitches and crossing at least three of said chain warps in each course, a plurality of pile yarns, one of said pile yarns laid in and bound into all the stitches of and crossing only one of each of said chain warps, each of said pile yarns passing beneath at least one but less than all of said weft yarns in each course.

2. A knitted pile fabric as defined in claim :1 having a plurality of pile elements formed in each pile yarn, each of said pile elements projecting from the face of said fabric, certain of said pile elements being located on one side of the chain warp said pile yarn crosses, \and others of said pile elements being located on another side of said chain warp which said pile yarn crosses.

3. The fabric of claim 2 wherein successive pile elements formed in each pile yarn are located on [alternate sides of said chain warp which said pile yarn crosses.

4. A knitted pile fabric as [defined in claim '3 wherein, in each course, each of said pile yarns is engaged between at least two of said backing weft yarns.

-5. A knitted pile fabric as defined in claim 4 having an adhesive coating applied to the back thereof, said coating contacting and gripping said chain warps, said backing weft yarns and said pile yarns to securely anchor said chain warps, said backing weft threads, and said pile yarns in said fabric.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,435,897 2/48 Newman 6619 3 2,718,132 9/55 'Herrnstadt 66- 191 2,934,924 5/60 I-Iernnstadt 6619 1 2,955,446 '10/60 Herrnstadt et al 66- 191 2,968,085 1/ 61 Matthews 66-191 X 2,999,297 9/ 6'1 Schwartz 28-74 3,094,857- 6/63 MacCaffnay 66- 191 DONALD W. PAR-KER, Primary Examiner, U ELL MADE xami er 

1. A KNITTED PILE FABRIC COMPRISING A PLURALIYT OF PARALLEL CHAIN WRAPS EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY OF SAID FABRIC, EACH OF SAID CHANIN WRAPS CONSISTING OF A PLURALITY OF CHAIN STITCHES, SAID STITCHES ALIGNED IN COURSES TRANSVERSELY OF SAID FABRIC, A PLURALITY OF WEFT BACKING YARNS LAID INTO SAID CHAIN STITCHES AND CROSSING AT LEAST THREE OF SAID CHAIN WRAPS IN EACH COURSE, A PLURALIY OF PILE YARNS, ONE OF SAID PILE YARNS LAID IN AND BOUND INTO ALL THE STITCHES OF AND CROSSING ONLY ONE OF EACH OF SAID CHAIN WARPS, EACH OF SAID PILE YARNS PASSING BENEATH AT LEAST ONE BUT LESS THAN ALL OF SAID WEFT YARNS IN EACH COURSE. 